work all day

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noticed a few threads have stated that a spaniel with lots of red in its pedigree won,t be able to work all day .Now it depends on what sort of a day it is.If its beating i can expect my ess to work with drive all day thats a day with possibly 6 to 8 drives and beaters/dogs transported to there starting positions with a break for lunch of approx an hour.So although your out all day the dog is'nt consantly hunting. Picking up i do'nt do but know that most folk who do use more than one dog many have a small pack to share the work. This is what i am getting at if you use a dog on a days rough shoot it has to work all the time you are out hunting after three or so hours of walk about with the dog hunting a flushing and retrieving i would expect it to show signes of it getting tired ( if its not a potterer) i dont want it to be pottering about i want it to act like a spaniel and work at a good steady pace .A rough day for me is about 5 hours i use one dog in the morning and swap over to my other dog in the afternoon. So have i working spaniels that ca'nt work all day what do the folk who work with spaniels think.

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noticed a few threads have stated that a spaniel with lots of red in its pedigree won,t be able to work all day .Now it depends on what sort of a day it is.If its beating i can expect my ess to work with drive all day thats a day with possibly 6 to 8 drives and beaters/dogs transported to there starting positions with a break for lunch of approx an hour.So although your out all day the dog is'nt consantly hunting. Picking up i do'nt do but know that most folk who do use more than one dog many have a small pack to share the work. This is what i am getting at if you use a dog on a days rough shoot it has to work all the time you are out hunting after three or so hours of walk about with the dog hunting a flushing and retrieving i would expect it to show signes of it getting tired ( if its not a potterer) i dont want it to be pottering about i want it to act like a spaniel and work at a good steady pace .A rough day for me is about 5 hours i use one dog in the morning and swap over to my other dog in the afternoon. So have i working spaniels that ca'nt work all day what do the folk who work with spaniels think.

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noticed a few threads have stated that a spaniel with lots of red in its pedigree won,t be able to work all day .Now it depends on what sort of a day it is.If its beating i can expect my ess to work with drive all day thats a day with possibly 6 to 8 drives and beaters/dogs transported to there starting positions with a break for lunch of approx an hour.So although your out all day the dog is'nt consantly hunting. Picking up i do'nt do but know that most folk who do use more than one dog many have a small pack to share the work. This is what i am getting at if you use a dog on a days rough shoot it has to work all the time you are out hunting after three or so hours of walk about with the dog hunting a flushing and retrieving i would expect it to show signes of it getting tired ( if its not a potterer) i dont want it to be pottering about i want it to act like a spaniel and work at a good steady pace .A rough day for me is about 5 hours i use one dog in the morning and swap over to my other dog in the afternoon. So have i working spaniels that ca'nt work all day what do the folk who work with spaniels think.

How many days a week do you work them?

as many as i can but not as many as i would like average twice a weekl just noticed your edit hope thats not me you'r on about.

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hily, as you know mate i am not a spaniel man, although i have owned and trained a cocker x, but i know there is a massive difference for the dogs between a driven shoot day and a day rough shooting.

My Lab bitch hunts well with more staminar than most labs, she can beat on a driven day and do a bit of picking up with plenty of energy, as you say there is regular breaks and time to regain there energy and she takes these days in her stride, but a days rough shooting will take it out of her, she will work at a high tempo for 4 hours non stop then start to slow down which i feel is not bad when she is giving her all.

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shouldnt any dog should be able to work all day every day,if it cant its not fit enough

getting a spaniel work fit so that it will go all day is not easy the dog needs to be built for the task to start with and unless he can work the dog for prolonged periods regularly the dog's stamina will never increase just getting out twice a week through the season isnt' enough (I would bet by the mid season the dog is finding it easier though)

It is not criticism though folks commit the time they have available and not every one can spend day in day out working their dogs.

Edited November 16, 2011 by danw

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shouldnt any dog should be able to work all day every day,if it cant its not fit enough

getting a spaniel work fit so that it will go all day is not easy the dog needs to be built for the task to start with and unless he can work the dog for prolonged periods regularly the dog's stamina will never increase just getting out twice a week through the season isnt' enough (I would bet by the mid season the dog is finding it easier though)

It is not criticism though folks commit the time they have available and not every one can spend day in day out working their dogs.

thanks for your take on this but should have made it clear that the dogs are shot over all year(rabbits )not just the season hot weather permmiting in the summer so the dogs are not starting the season unfit i can only make comments on the dogs i have worked thats why i asked for info from other handlers danw i take on board that the dog has to be built for the job and to me the blocks are made with the dogs pedigree and made stronger by the handler.danw in your opinion how long is a full day to work your dog .would you not agrea that by mid season the cover is a lot less and the dogs find it easyer to hunt .

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shouldnt any dog should be able to work all day every day,if it cant its not fit enough

getting a spaniel work fit so that it will go all day is not easy the dog needs to be built for the task to start with and unless he can work the dog for prolonged periods regularly the dog's stamina will never increase just getting out twice a week through the season isnt' enough (I would bet by the mid season the dog is finding it easier though)

It is not criticism though folks commit the time they have available and not every one can spend day in day out working their dogs.

thanks for your take on this but should have made it clear that the dogs are shot over all year(rabbits )not just the season hot weather permmiting in the summer so the dogs are not starting the season unfit i can only make comments on the dogs i have worked thats why i asked for info from other handlers danw i take on board that the dog has to be built for the job and to me the blocks are made with the dogs pedigree and made stronger by the handler.danw in your opinion how long is a full day to work your dog .

Mine are slightly different in that they have to dog in so by mid august they are working from first light till dark obviously not continually but I would expect them to put in 10-12 hours that decreases as day length gets shorter they work 1 day on 1 day off 7 days a week till end of january

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thats a long day feed bill must be big! Danw coming back to the original post in your opinion what's has the greatest influence on the dogs ability to gain stamina the lack of field trial winners in the line or the way you bring a dog on NATURE or NURTURE.

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thats a long day feed bill must be big! Danw coming back to the original post in your opinion what's has the greatest influence on the dogs ability to gain stamina the lack of field trial winners in the line or the way you bring a dog on NATURE or NURTURE.

Luckily the boss picks up the feed bill LOL

With out doubt stamina is bred in to a dog without the correct physical conformation the dog will never reach the same levels as a dog bred specifically for the job. the nature of field trials mean that a fast, busy dog is desirable one that will give it's all for the moment its' being judged rather than a dog that takes its' time and works methodically for prolonged periods so to answer your question you can't nurture what it doesn't have and ftch generally don't have stamina,

From my point of view if a dog has to be swapped half way through the day because it's tired it either isn't fit or isn't fit for purpose

1

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thats a long day feed bill must be big! Danw coming back to the original post in your opinion what's has the greatest influence on the dogs ability to gain stamina the lack of field trial winners in the line or the way you bring a dog on NATURE or NURTURE.

Luckily the boss picks up the feed bill LOL

With out doubt stamina is bred in to a dog without the correct physical conformation the dog will never reach the same levels as a dog bred specifically for the job. the nature of field trials mean that a fast, busy dog is desirable one that will give it's all for the moment its' being judged rather than a dog that takes its' time and works methodically for prolonged periods so to answer your question you can't nurture what it doesn't have and ftch generally don't have stamina,

From my point of view if a dog has to be swapped half way through the day because it's tired it either isn't fit or isn't fit for purpose

They dont have stamina cause they go from A to B and back again. They walk to heel everywhere else and breathing at the wrong time means "Your out!!!!".. ......load of bollocks if you ask me. Give me a game finding work-a-holic dog any day of the week....

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thats a long day feed bill must be big! Danw coming back to the original post in your opinion what's has the greatest influence on the dogs ability to gain stamina the lack of field trial winners in the line or the way you bring a dog on NATURE or NURTURE.

Luckily the boss picks up the feed bill LOL

With out doubt stamina is bred in to a dog without the correct physical conformation the dog will never reach the same levels as a dog bred specifically for the job. the nature of field trials mean that a fast, busy dog is desirable one that will give it's all for the moment its' being judged rather than a dog that takes its' time and works methodically for prolonged periods so to answer your question you can't nurture what it doesn't have and ftch generally don't have stamina,

From my point of view if a dog has to be swapped half way through the day because it's tired it either isn't fit or isn't fit for purpose

They dont have stamina cause they go from A to B and back again. They walk to heel everywhere else and breathing at the wrong time means "Your out!!!!".. ......load of bollocks if you ask me. Give me a game finding work-a-holic dog any day of the week....

Thats somewhat more to the point than my answer :laugh: :laugh:

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ok we agrea to differ on this.I for one like a spaniel to give its all when out in front hunting and if that means only working for three or so hours then thats fine because if it do'nt work like a spanie(WORK AHOLIC) it might as well be a lab.and to be blunt i find it hard to believe that a spaniel can work for 10 hours at the speed it should and not tire.i did get my dogs with ftc in the pedigree its hard not to this dos'nt meen i trial them or even support field trials.